So after all that rain on the islands, surely we were due at least some sunshine? Well, Bangkok sure delivered on that front- and then some! From the moment we left the plane, it was steaming hot...this was more like it!
We certainly saw a very different side to Bangkok than we had at New Year's...starting with the Four Seasons. I mean, how can you describe a hotel like that? Wow. Think I got a little too excited over the hotel sign...and that was even before we got to our room! All sorts of treats awaited us there...four types of tea! Armchairs! A writing desk! Free banana, free apple, free body lotion!...but no free wi-fi. Well, I guess there has to be a limit somewhere....stingy gits. It's OK, that free banana made up for it...
To throw ourselves back into Bangkok-life, we dropped our bags and headed to Asia's largest market, the Chatuchak Weekend Market. With Bangkok's roads chock-a-block with colourful taxis, we opted for the very pleasurable Skytrain, rattling effortlessly above the city and its traffic jams. Cramped in with Thais and tourists, the air-conditioning was heavenly- the London Underground could learn a thing or two about customer comfort...
The market was truly huge; it was difficult to know where to begin! Name a product, and it would have been sold at this market- shoes, clothes, jewellery, plants, inflatable travel pillows (I bought one!), bread buns with creepy faces on them, bubble guns, straw-weaved animals, papier-mached red pigs...the celebrity rubber mask stall was my favourite, with a guy wearing the 'Scream' mask and holding a microphone seated in front of it. God know what his sinister whisperings were...and how that would allure customers...
All this shopping made us hungry and thirsty (for beer), so we stopped at a food stall: Colleen and Bob's first sampling of street food! We made a good choice with chicken soup: tender chicken, flavourful broth, all washed down nicely with a Chang. Now we were refreshed, the shopping could begin! The restaurant we'd been recommended by the Four Seasons had a fairly strict dress code; stricter than we'd anticipated (more on that later!). With his limited wardrobe, we needed to find Patrick some long trouser-pants (I'm giving them this name to save confusion: the 'trousers/pants' debate between Pat & I still rages on). This turned out to be an unexpected highlight, as we got to sample the 'Thai changing room'- basically a long green skirt that you change under! Patrick looked so pretty in that skirt, but my suggestion that he should wear that to dinner instead didn't go down too well...
One final observation I have to make about Chatuchak- many stalls sold fresh fruit, sugar and chilli paste. Interesting mixture; apparently it's pretty tasty (Patrick's caddy in Ko Samui let him try some).
After walking through the market in 32 degree heat, the Four Seasons pool was a gorgeous sight. One of the staff lay our towels on our sunbeds for us (beats having to race for a sunbed!) and the four of us just chilled there, dozing periodically, swimming once in a while...enjoying Changs while we did, of course.
But now we get on to the interesting part of the evening...our meal on the State Hotel's 52nd floor. We'd been told by the Four Seasons that the dress code was 'smart-casual'- no mention had been made about disallowing flip-flops, though in hindsight I should've seen that coming. We reach the hotel, where an immaculately lady very politely tells us that we couldn't enter while I was wearing my flip-flops. What to do- we were not within walking distance of the Four Seasons. Do we a) go back, or b) rush into the bustling Bangkok streets and pick up some random white rubber closed toed shoes from a non-English speaking Thai hawker lady? The latter, of course...these shoe stalls outside a mall were only 5 minutes from the hotel, but were a completely different world, where with limited English, hawkers bite the tips of their tongues in concentration- as I do also when I'm thinking hard- as they carefully write the price for you on paper. Re-entering the State Hotel's hallway triumphantly, we strode to the lifts...only for Colleen to be told that her backpack was not allowed upstairs. We finally got into the lift and upstairs, stepping onto a neon-pink runway...I was told off for taking photos here too, which was probably justified, seeing as I was holding people up.
It may sound like it was a lot of effort to go to this place, but one look at the restaurant and the views of Bangkok made it all more than worth it. From our outside table, you could see the dazzling lights of Bangkok twinkling below, as the beautiful, curvaceous State Hotel towered above. Even my bag got special treatment, with a little padded seat to rest on. Before this moment, I had never before tried oysters, but for starter I was able to try those slippery, fishy treats with all sorts of sauces. Other starters: wasabi prawns, and deep-fried soft-shell crab. Probably the last crab we'll try on this trip...hence why Patrick also got crab for his main. I usually order a certain meal because I'm intrigued by the idea of it, and my almond-covered chicken stuffed with prawns was no different; I'm happy to say it lived up to my expectations, especially with the cranberry sauce. Bob's tenderloin beef was certainly tender, and Colleen's 'Chilean-fried' sea bass looked like french fries stuck into a fish, but had a lovely, subtle taste and crunchy texture. Dessert was just too exquisite for words...the dessert descriptions were a little long-winded, but I saw the words 'strawberry' and 'white chocolate' and I was sold...perfection with a glass of port. In between meals, we stood to get a better view of this vibrant city's skyline, watching the luminous boats glide along the river as the wind refreshed our faces. Thanks again for that meal, Bob and Colleen; I certainly won't forget that experience in a hurry.
As they were leaving the next day, we said our goodbyes to Colleen and Bob that evening, before a very long, deep sleep. The next day, with a late check-out time of 2pm (thanks to Bob, once again!), we squeezed every last moment of luxury out of the Four Seasons, before heading over to a slightly different place...yep, we returned to good old Kho San Road- and I even bought a bracelet from one of those village-hat-wooden frog hawkers that I said 'prey on the exceedingly drunk'! I don't think we could leave Bangkok without buying something from those ladies, without a little bargaining on sunglasses, and without drinking a 'very strong' Samsom bucket...
We caught our bus to Chiang Mai that evening, which turned out to be pretty posh: screens on the backs on seats-(with 5 movies and heaps of music), sandwiches, Lays...unexpected, but nice! We're loving Chiang Mai so far- cheap accommodation, chilled-out city, good street food, especially 'kho soi' (curried noodle soup- a Northern Thai dish). We had an awesome elephant experience today, where we got to own an elephant for a day! Will be telling you all about that very, very soon..
We certainly saw a very different side to Bangkok than we had at New Year's...starting with the Four Seasons. I mean, how can you describe a hotel like that? Wow. Think I got a little too excited over the hotel sign...and that was even before we got to our room! All sorts of treats awaited us there...four types of tea! Armchairs! A writing desk! Free banana, free apple, free body lotion!...but no free wi-fi. Well, I guess there has to be a limit somewhere....stingy gits. It's OK, that free banana made up for it...
To throw ourselves back into Bangkok-life, we dropped our bags and headed to Asia's largest market, the Chatuchak Weekend Market. With Bangkok's roads chock-a-block with colourful taxis, we opted for the very pleasurable Skytrain, rattling effortlessly above the city and its traffic jams. Cramped in with Thais and tourists, the air-conditioning was heavenly- the London Underground could learn a thing or two about customer comfort...
The market was truly huge; it was difficult to know where to begin! Name a product, and it would have been sold at this market- shoes, clothes, jewellery, plants, inflatable travel pillows (I bought one!), bread buns with creepy faces on them, bubble guns, straw-weaved animals, papier-mached red pigs...the celebrity rubber mask stall was my favourite, with a guy wearing the 'Scream' mask and holding a microphone seated in front of it. God know what his sinister whisperings were...and how that would allure customers...
All this shopping made us hungry and thirsty (for beer), so we stopped at a food stall: Colleen and Bob's first sampling of street food! We made a good choice with chicken soup: tender chicken, flavourful broth, all washed down nicely with a Chang. Now we were refreshed, the shopping could begin! The restaurant we'd been recommended by the Four Seasons had a fairly strict dress code; stricter than we'd anticipated (more on that later!). With his limited wardrobe, we needed to find Patrick some long trouser-pants (I'm giving them this name to save confusion: the 'trousers/pants' debate between Pat & I still rages on). This turned out to be an unexpected highlight, as we got to sample the 'Thai changing room'- basically a long green skirt that you change under! Patrick looked so pretty in that skirt, but my suggestion that he should wear that to dinner instead didn't go down too well...
One final observation I have to make about Chatuchak- many stalls sold fresh fruit, sugar and chilli paste. Interesting mixture; apparently it's pretty tasty (Patrick's caddy in Ko Samui let him try some).
After walking through the market in 32 degree heat, the Four Seasons pool was a gorgeous sight. One of the staff lay our towels on our sunbeds for us (beats having to race for a sunbed!) and the four of us just chilled there, dozing periodically, swimming once in a while...enjoying Changs while we did, of course.
But now we get on to the interesting part of the evening...our meal on the State Hotel's 52nd floor. We'd been told by the Four Seasons that the dress code was 'smart-casual'- no mention had been made about disallowing flip-flops, though in hindsight I should've seen that coming. We reach the hotel, where an immaculately lady very politely tells us that we couldn't enter while I was wearing my flip-flops. What to do- we were not within walking distance of the Four Seasons. Do we a) go back, or b) rush into the bustling Bangkok streets and pick up some random white rubber closed toed shoes from a non-English speaking Thai hawker lady? The latter, of course...these shoe stalls outside a mall were only 5 minutes from the hotel, but were a completely different world, where with limited English, hawkers bite the tips of their tongues in concentration- as I do also when I'm thinking hard- as they carefully write the price for you on paper. Re-entering the State Hotel's hallway triumphantly, we strode to the lifts...only for Colleen to be told that her backpack was not allowed upstairs. We finally got into the lift and upstairs, stepping onto a neon-pink runway...I was told off for taking photos here too, which was probably justified, seeing as I was holding people up.
It may sound like it was a lot of effort to go to this place, but one look at the restaurant and the views of Bangkok made it all more than worth it. From our outside table, you could see the dazzling lights of Bangkok twinkling below, as the beautiful, curvaceous State Hotel towered above. Even my bag got special treatment, with a little padded seat to rest on. Before this moment, I had never before tried oysters, but for starter I was able to try those slippery, fishy treats with all sorts of sauces. Other starters: wasabi prawns, and deep-fried soft-shell crab. Probably the last crab we'll try on this trip...hence why Patrick also got crab for his main. I usually order a certain meal because I'm intrigued by the idea of it, and my almond-covered chicken stuffed with prawns was no different; I'm happy to say it lived up to my expectations, especially with the cranberry sauce. Bob's tenderloin beef was certainly tender, and Colleen's 'Chilean-fried' sea bass looked like french fries stuck into a fish, but had a lovely, subtle taste and crunchy texture. Dessert was just too exquisite for words...the dessert descriptions were a little long-winded, but I saw the words 'strawberry' and 'white chocolate' and I was sold...perfection with a glass of port. In between meals, we stood to get a better view of this vibrant city's skyline, watching the luminous boats glide along the river as the wind refreshed our faces. Thanks again for that meal, Bob and Colleen; I certainly won't forget that experience in a hurry.
 | ||
| So ladylike. |
As they were leaving the next day, we said our goodbyes to Colleen and Bob that evening, before a very long, deep sleep. The next day, with a late check-out time of 2pm (thanks to Bob, once again!), we squeezed every last moment of luxury out of the Four Seasons, before heading over to a slightly different place...yep, we returned to good old Kho San Road- and I even bought a bracelet from one of those village-hat-wooden frog hawkers that I said 'prey on the exceedingly drunk'! I don't think we could leave Bangkok without buying something from those ladies, without a little bargaining on sunglasses, and without drinking a 'very strong' Samsom bucket...
We caught our bus to Chiang Mai that evening, which turned out to be pretty posh: screens on the backs on seats-(with 5 movies and heaps of music), sandwiches, Lays...unexpected, but nice! We're loving Chiang Mai so far- cheap accommodation, chilled-out city, good street food, especially 'kho soi' (curried noodle soup- a Northern Thai dish). We had an awesome elephant experience today, where we got to own an elephant for a day! Will be telling you all about that very, very soon..
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